German Published Patent Application No. 44 16 991 A1 concerns a method and a device for warning truck drivers of the danger (or risk) of overturning (or rollover) when cornering. For this purpose, before the vehicle enters into a curve, on a straightest possible road segment before the curve, the type of vehicle and the status data relevant to the danger of overturning, such as the vehicle weight and the vehicle speed, are determined. Depending on the vehicle's center of gravity and the curve radius, the risk of overturning and the threshold (or limit) speed are determined. A signal requesting a reduction in speed is triggered if the vehicle's current speed shows cause for a risk of overturning, or if a preselected (or predetermined) safety margin with respect to the danger of overturning is encroached upon. For this purpose, a preselected safety margin of the permissible vehicle speed is specified with respect to the vehicle speed at the threshold of the danger of overturning.
With the system of German Published Patent Application No. 44 16 991 A1, one disadvantage may be that in the event of a danger of overturning, only a signal warning the driver is generated, instead of measures being carried out autonomously, i.e., independent of the driver, for reducing the vehicle speed and thus averting the risk of overturning. In this manner, under certain circumstances, a serious risk of overturning may not be promptly reacted to. Furthermore, in the determination of the risk of overturning, influences that are not considered include both torsion-dependant as well as load-shift-dependant, influences arising from forces acting on the vehicle.
German Published Patent Application No. 32 22 149 A1 concerns a device for avoiding sideways overturning of the vehicle. For this purpose, as a function of the track and the height of the center of gravity, a static stability is determined. From the latter, by multiplying two different safety factors, two permissible thresholds are determined. On the basis of the driving speed of the vehicle, the curve radius, and the gravitational acceleration, a dynamic instability is determined. In two comparisons, this dynamic instability is compared, in each case, with one of the two permissible thresholds. If the dynamic instability is greater than the first permissible threshold, the transmission clutch is released. If the dynamic instability is greater than the second permissible threshold, then the brakes of the vehicle are activated.
Also in the case of German Published Patent Application No. 32 22 149 A1 both torsion-dependant as well as load-shift-dependant influences arising from forces acting on the vehicle are not considered.